'Only Adults In Room' At Hinsdale D86 Meeting

HINSDALE, IL – A Hinsdale High School District 86 board member last week pushed for the administration to decide on allowing Hinsdale South students to go off campus for lunch.

As it is, the students advocating off-campus lunch are apparently the "only adults in the room," member Jeff Waters said at Thursday's board meeting.

Waters called for the issue to be added to the meeting agenda after several South students spoke again for allowing off-campus lunch. South Principal Patrick Hardy also backs the measure for seniors whose grades are C's or above.

For the first time, board President Catherine Greenspon revealed some of the behind-the-scenes maneuverings on the issue going back to last June. During that time, five people have filled the superintendent's role.

Waters said students have had to go to too many meetings to make their case. And he said the district had no excuse for not deciding yet.

"It is a disservice to the students, and it's disrespectful to Dr. Hardy if this board (or) administration can't come to a decision before July 1," Waters said. "If the month of May expires without this particular proposal being concluded, the students are going to find out they're the only adults in the room."

At the board meeting in late April, members said they lacked details about Hardy's off-campus lunch proposal. But Hardy said he had given the information to the two interim superintendents. It turned out they had not given it to the board.

"Dr. Hardy has done nothing but wonderful work informing us," Waters said. Hardy's answers to the board's questions have been "quite detailed, and I'm more than satisfied."

Board member Terri Walker thanked Waters for his statement. She and others agreed it was the administration's call on off-campus lunch, not the board's. But they said it was appropriate for the board to give feedback.

Speaking about the history of the proposal, Greenspon said then-interim Superintendent Chris Covino, who was briefly in charge after the board ousted Superintendent Tammy Prentiss, brought up the issue to the board last June.

In July, though, she said the administration told the board that it would not bring the lunch proposal forward.

When Greenspon referred to the administration, it was unclear who she was talking about. During the first part of the month, Jason Markey, assistant superintendent for academics, was interim superintendent. Later that month, the district had two interim superintendents.

The administration, she said, told the board again in February that it was not moving ahead with the lunch idea. By that time, one of the interim superintendents had left with little notice and was replaced.

Greenspon said she needed to hear the feedback on the lunch proposal from the district's top officials in finance and technology.

Hardy said the off-campus lunch proposal was brought up privately to the board last summer, so the school could get as much feedback as possible.

Hardy, who is leaving after this school year, said off-campus lunch would be a pilot program. He said his successor, Kari Peronto, now the school's assistant principal for operations, could stop the program at any time if problems surface.

"If there is jeopardy or harm that could happen to our students, we'll shut the pilot down," he said. "Why would we keep it going?"

Officials generally agreed that the administration should make a decision, perhaps by month's end.

Hinsdale Central's principal, Bill Walsh, said his school also may ask for off-campus lunch, but Central wants to see how it plays out at South.